DFB.de: What do players such as yourself take from matches of this calibre?
Däbritz: These games help you progress a lot because they are very physical, so you have to fully concentrate from the start and get into the action quickly. You face the best players in the world, so you have to learn to impose yourself and continue to develop.
DFB.de: This tournament ends on Thursday with the final game against the USA. Unfortunately you will not play a part in this because of your suspension. That must be painful for you?
Däbritz: I would have loved to face the USA, but now I will cheer on my team and cross my fingers. The team will give their all to win the game. It is a great challenge against the World Champions. It would be important to end this tournament on a positive note.
DFB.de: Once again there will be a crowd of over 20,000. What sort of impact does that have?
Däbritz: The atmosphere is amazing. There were 25,000 fans in the stadium against England on Sunday, and there will certainly be a few more when we face the USA. It’s really easy when there’s so many fans there, especially because they are so loud. It creates an incredible mood in the stadium, and you almost can’t hear anything on the pitch.
DFB.de: Does that motivate you?
Däbritz: Of course – that pushes us, especially when you see that the entire stadium is against us. The fans cheer for the USA with real passion, which motivates you even further to show them that you can face up to them.
Following a 1-0 win over France and then a 2-1 victory against England, the Germany women’s national team now face the USA in their final match of the SheBelieves Cup in Boca Raton on Thursday (kick-off 1:45 CET). A draw would be enough for Germany to lift the trophy.
One of the stars of the tournament has been Sara Däbritz. Bayern München’s midfielder will only be a spectator for the game against the USA after she picked up her second yellow card of the tournament. In an interview with DFB.de, the 21-year-old gives her opinion on the tournament so far and looks forward to the match against the World Champions.
DFB.de: Germany have already played two games in the SheBelieves Cup – what is your opinion on how the tournament has gone so far?
Sara Däbritz: The positive thing is that we won both of the first two games and so go into the game against the USA with six points and knowing that it is a final to decide the winners. But you have also seen that we still need to improve. France and England are two of the best teams in the world, and in those games we were not always good enough, and so we must improve.
DFB.de: Can you be more precise?
Däbritz: Against France we tried to press from the front and sit deep. It was the first time we tried this, and it worked to an extent, but you could see that we are not quite used to this tactical variation yet. We saw in the video analysis what we have to work on – switching the play, getting players into the game, the finer tactical points that you need to perfect this way of playing.
DFB.de: And against England?
Däbritz: The problem in the first half of that game was that we sometimes sat too deep and so could not apply enough pressure onto the opposition. The distance to their players was too big, we were not compact, and so we often lost the second balls. Going forward, we continuously failed to produce the final ball, which means we had very few chances in the first half. We were better after the break. We went forward with more courage and created more chances. You had the feeling that the game was there to be turned around, and luckily we managed to do that.
DFB.de: What do players such as yourself take from matches of this calibre?
Däbritz: These games help you progress a lot because they are very physical, so you have to fully concentrate from the start and get into the action quickly. You face the best players in the world, so you have to learn to impose yourself and continue to develop.
DFB.de: This tournament ends on Thursday with the final game against the USA. Unfortunately you will not play a part in this because of your suspension. That must be painful for you?
Däbritz: I would have loved to face the USA, but now I will cheer on my team and cross my fingers. The team will give their all to win the game. It is a great challenge against the World Champions. It would be important to end this tournament on a positive note.
DFB.de: Once again there will be a crowd of over 20,000. What sort of impact does that have?
Däbritz: The atmosphere is amazing. There were 25,000 fans in the stadium against England on Sunday, and there will certainly be a few more when we face the USA. It’s really easy when there’s so many fans there, especially because they are so loud. It creates an incredible mood in the stadium, and you almost can’t hear anything on the pitch.
DFB.de: Does that motivate you?
Däbritz: Of course – that pushes us, especially when you see that the entire stadium is against us. The fans cheer for the USA with real passion, which motivates you even further to show them that you can face up to them.
DFB.de: The team arrives back in Germany on Friday, and that symbolises the conclusion of the team’s first step towards the Olympics later this year. How well have you been able to work here, and how important is it that the team have been together for just short of two weeks?
Däbritz: The conditions were top quality in all three locations. The weather was great, the pitches were close by. It is really helpful when you are together for longer periods of time because you can work on a lot of things. The tournament rhythm is good preparation for the Olympics, not just because of the top opposition, but also because of the travelling and having to acclimatise to different places. We can take a lot from this short tournament going into the big one in the summer. It’s definitely helped us develop.
